Frederick Thornton Peters
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Frederick Thornton Peters, VC , DSO , DSC & Bar (September 17, 1889 - November 13, 1942) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Peters was 53 years old, and a captain in the Royal Navy during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:
Operation Reservist (part of Operation Torch, the Allied landings in French North Africa) was an attempt to capture Oran Harbour, Algeria and prevent it from being sabotaged by its French garrison. The two sloops HMS Walney and HMS Hartland were packed with British Commandos and soldiers of the 6th US Armored Infantry Division.
On 8 November 1942 Captain Peters, commanding in Walney, led his force through the boom towards the jetty in the face of point-blank fire from shore batteries, the sloop La Surprise, and the destroyer Epervier. Blinded in one eye, he alone of 11 officers and men on the bridge survived. Walney reached the jetty disabled and ablaze and went down with her colours flying. Captain Peters and a handful of men managed to reach the shore, where they were taken prisoner. Hartland came under fire from the French destroyer Typhon and blew up with the loss of half her crew. The survivors, like those of Walney, were taken prisoner as they reached shore.
Captain Peters was also awarded the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same actions. The citation, issued in Allied Force Headquarters General Orders No. 19 of November 23, 1942, stated that "Captain Peters distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy during the attack on that post. He remained on the bridge in command of his ship in spite of the fact that the protective armor thereon had been blown away by enemy shell fire and was thereby exposed personally to the withering cross fire from shore defenses. He accomplished the berthing of his ship, then went to the forward deck and assisted by one officer secured the forward mooring lines. He then with utter disregard of his own personal safety went to the quarter-deck and assisted in securing the aft mooring lines so that the troops on board could disembark. At that time the engine room was in flames and very shortly thereafter exploded and the ship turned on its side and sank."
The survivors were released on November 10, 1942 when the French garrison surrendered. In the meantime, the French systematically destroyed the harbour facilities at Oran: Operation Reservist was thus a complete failure.
Captain Peters was killed in an air crash three days later.
[edit] Further information
Killed on 13 November 1942 in a Sunderland seaplane which crash landed in Plymouth Sound, at the entrance to the Royal Navy's Devonport Dockyard, Nr. Plymouth Devon. No bodies were recovered after the crash. Grave/memorial at Name on Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire, England. Panel 61. Column 3.
